Marauder Era
by Siriusluver-le
Summary: The story of what happens when Lily Evans and her friends meet the Marauders during there fifth year at Hogwarts... I'm hoping to get a new ch. up soon...after midterms...srry for the delays.
1. Sirius Trouble

Marauder Era

Author's Note: This is the first chapter of my first hp fanfic ever. It's based in the time that James and Sirius and Remus were at Hogwarts during their fifth year with a few twists…

Lily looked around the dungeon feeling confused. She wished that Shashia and Jordyn had gotten double potions with her. As her green eyes scanned the room she saw a boy she recognized from the common room that morning. He was dashingly handsome, with long dark hair that curled slightly where it ended at his shoulders and deep intense dark eyes. He lounged in a chair at an empty table wearing a bored, slightly arrogant look. Lily didn't see any of the other three boys she'd seen him with that morning. She clutched her school bag a little tighter and strode towards him.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked when she stood opposite him at the table.

"Nope." He said hardly looking at her. "Just me here." He sounded almost bitter, as if he felt he'd been deserted.

"I'm Lily, Lily Evans." Lily offered as she sat down and began to arrange her things.

"Sirius Black." He said still staring boredly at the dungeon ceiling.

Lily might have said more but just then the looming figure of Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master, lumbered into the room. "Good afternoon students," he boomed. "And welcome to Potions."

As Professor Slughorn detailed their assignment, Lily paid him avid attention, but she noticedd that Sirius barely even looked at the front of the room. 'Arrogant twit.' Lily thought. She turned her attention back to Slughorn and ignored Sirius for the rest of the lecture. When Professor Slughorn finally said get to work, she turned back to the table and pulled out her cauldron and book. Across the table Sirius mirrored her actions with that same bored air.

Sirius watched Lily secretly as she carefully measured her potion ingredients. He couldn't remember seeing her around before but then he didn't know everyone in Gryffindor. James probably did, but he didn't. She seemed to have a natural flare for potions. Her hands deftly swept through the process. But Sirius noted with some interest that she added ingredients or changed measurements here and there. He was so intent on watching her that he hardly read the instructions for the potion they were supposed to be making. Instead he mearly collected the right ingredients and through them in his cauldron in a haphazard sort of way.

After what seemed like no time at all Slughorn's voice boomed once again through the dungeon room. "Time is up!! Please bring me a vile, one vile only, of the potion you've created for grading. Then you may pack up."

Lily energetically filled her vile and carried it to Slughorn's desk. Her potion, Sirius noted, was the exact shade of crimson that the book had said you should aim for. Grumbling to himself he looked down at his thick, sludge-colored concoction. Hoping it would help he chucked in a handfull of what he hoped was moonlily.

Three feet from the table Lily tried to call out to Sirius not to throw in that ingredient but it hit the liquid before she could get the words out. With a collasal bang, a billowing cloud of acrid smoke blossomed out of the Sirius' cauldron. Choking Lily continued forward figuring that was the last of it. Indeed the cauldron was quiet for a moment. The smoke began to dissipate. Suddenly a loud hiss could be heard issuing from the cauldron. The hiss was followed by tiny balls of fire which came arching out onto the table top. Lily grabbed her things and ducked under the desk as the firefall grew stronger. Sirius ducked down to after a fireball had narrowly missed his head. To Lily's annoyance she saw that he was laughing hysterically. She busied herself with using her wand to remove the scorch marks on her bag and potions book.

Slughorn seemed oblivious to all that was going on at Sirius and Lily's table. He counted the number of vials and when he found himself one short went through the names. "Mr. Black!" He called looking up. "Where is your vi—" The rest was lost in a second bang, in which Sirius' cauldron exploded. "GOOD HEAVENS!!!" Slughorn exclaimed. "What is going on???" He inched cautiously over to where the spilled potion was still emmitting weak puffs of flame. With wave of his wand the potion disappeared. A second wave and a stream of water extinguished all the sizzling spots on the wooden table.

As if on cue, Sirius leapt out from under the table, still laughing. "Did you see……I mean thanks, Professor." He began to gather up his things, but everyone could see the barely surpressed grin on his face.

"Do you think this is funny, Mr. Black?"

"No, sir." But Sirius looked for all the world as though it were funny.

"Potions can be dangerous if brewed incorrectly. This class is not playtime. But then you and your friends, especially Mr. Potter always did seem fond of causing mayhem." Slughorn said sternly. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

Sirius just stared as Slughorn turned and walked away. He grabbed up his bag and rushed from the room as soon as the change bell had rung.

Lily snorted. She really hated students that disrespected their teachers and didn't take their lessons seriously. But then again, Professor Slughorn had said that he was the troublemaking type. All in all, she decided, he was person to avoid hanging around with too often. Gathering her things she headed from the dungeons. As she climbed out of the stairwell she saw Sirius again, striding towards lunch in the Great Hall. As he crossed the entrance way not far from her he bumped into a skinny boy with greasy black hair.

"Would you watch where you're going, Snivellus." Sirius snapped. The boy bristled.

"His name is Severus." Lily called out. She wasn't really sure where the knowledge had come from, since she was quite sure she'd never seen this boy before.

Sirius turned to her and stared for a moment. Then comprehension dawned on his face. "Lily Evans…" he said as though contemplating the name. "I know you." He laughed. "You're Snivelly's girlfriend…"

"Severus." Lily corrected again. "And I'm not his girlfriend."

"Sure you're not." Sirius winked at her. "Don't worry Evans, you're secret's safe with me."

Lily sighed in exasperation, but Sirius was already walking into the Great Hall.

"Thanks." The boy muttered. He was tall and lanky for his age and looked as though someone had badly neglected him. "I should have stood up to him…The filthy blood traitor! He and his no good friends are nothing but trouble. I should have….."

"You're welcome." Lily said. The way he was ranting and threatening disturbed her and she really wanted to catch up with Shashia and Jordyn. She started off towards the Great Hall.

"Hey, Lily, wait."

Hoping that it was Shashia or Jordyn she turned around quickly. She was surprised to see Severus trotting up behind her. "How did you know my name?" She asked confused.

The boy laughed. "Don't be silly. I've known your name since you told it to me when we were 10. "

Lily was now thoroughly confused. "I'm sorry but I don't know you."

"Lily, don't joke. It's me. Severus Snape. We're best friends. We have been since I started watching you and your sister Petunia."

Vague, shadowy memories filtered to Lily of a much young Severus telling her all about the magical school called Hogwarts where they would go to learn about magic. She remembered her older sister Petunia telling her to stay away from 'that Snape boy and his lies' and calling them both 'freaks'. But the memories felt as if they belonged to someone else. "I'm sorry, Severus. You seem like a nice guy, but I don't remember you. I have to go find my friends." With that she turned and walked off. Ignoring his cries of 'Lily!! What are you talking about!? Have you been Confunded!!?? Come back!!


	2. Divination

While Lily was getting to know Sirius' ineptitude in potions, Shashia and Jordyn found themselves in Divination. The room was quiet, dark, full of steamy incense. Looking around the odd decorum they hurried to one of the four person tables in the back. It was already half occupied, by none other than two of the boys who'd been causing the ruckus in the common room that morning.

"Great, choice." Jordyn muttered sarcastically to her friend.

"Oh, come on. Where's your sense of adventure?" Shashia said with a mischevious gleam in her eye. "It won't be so bad."

Jordyn turned to the table and studied the boys more closely. The one who'd seemed to lead the mayhem that morning was not at all unattractive. He had a messy mop of jet black hair that was relatively close cropped. He had dark, intelligent, but mischevious eyes and wore round metal framed glasses. The other boy had sandy hair, and was slightly ill-looking, but had kind grey eyes. He was a little ragged looking but Jordyn couldn't find it in her heart to mistrust him.

"Can we join your table?" Shashia asked animatedly.

"Sure." The dark haired boy said, gesturing them to the two empty seats. "Help yourself."

"I'm Shashia." Shashia said extending her hand. "And this is my friend Jordyn."

"I'm James Potter." The boy said. "This is Remus Lupin." The sickly looking boy waved.

"How do you do." He said jovially. Shashia smiled at him.

Jordyn held out her hand to James. "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you." He said shaking her hand and smiling.

In that moment Jordyn decided that he had utterly beautiful eyes. She smiled back and sat down across from him. This left Shashia sitting down opposite Remus, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact the two were already deep in conversation about Hogwarts' history. Apparently Remus had also finished Hogwarts: A History in no time flat.

"What are they talking about she animatedly?" James asked a few minutes later.

"Sounds like the history of Hogwarts." Jordyn said.

"Fascinating." James said sarcastically.

Jordyn might have answered but just then out of the mist appeared the most strangely dressed woman she'd ever seen. The woman was draped in numerous shawls and seemingly random strands of beads. She wore a set of glasses that magnified her eyes a hundredfold. "Who's that??" Jordyn asked.

"Professor Dondaly. She's a crazy old bat." James said quietly as the old woman scanned the room. "She doesn't notice anything. Watch." He pulled a strangely marked packet from his bag and tapped it with his wand. Immediately there was a loud bang and confetti shot out of the packet and high into the air. Half the class jumped and Shashia and Remus both whirled around as if they'd been poked with tacks.

"James what the bloody hell was that about!!" Remus yelped in shock.

"Shhh…" James hissed. Then he pointed at the front of the room. Professor Dondaly was still staring around the room with the same blank expression.

"Hello class….Today we'll be studying the art of reading tea leaves." She said calmly, and distantly as though there hadn't been a disturbance.

"See?" James chuckled under his breath. "Didn't hear a thing."

Jordyn and Shashia chuckled. Remus smiled, and whispered "Yeah, but the rest of the class is all going to die of heart attacks if you keep doing that everyday."

"I don't do it everyday." James said, his brow furrowed in feigned wounded pride. "Besides, they'll get used to it eventually."

Remus sighed exaggeratedly, and rolled his eyes as though he was dealing with a hopeless case, but his smile never faltered.

Shashia caught Jordyn's eye and smiled. Jordyn smiled back. She was enjoying herself. She only hoped that Lily was having as much fun.

Throughout the remainder of the lesson Shashia, Jordyn, Remus, and James took turns faking readings in each others teacups. By the end of the lesson they were all smiling and laughing. James and Remus invited the girls to eat lunch with them at the Gryffindor table after the lesson.

"Sure, that would be great." Shashia said happily. "But we have another friend that we're meeting up with. Can she join?"

"Of course." Remus said, smiling at her. "The more the merrier. Besides there's two more to James and I's party as well. We can all eat together. It'll be fun."

Shashia and Remus smiled goofily at each other


	3. Cross Purposes

As Lily stormed into the Great Hall for lunch, her eyes immediately scanned the Gryffindor table for her friends. Finally she spotted them standing near the closer end and rushed over. "Jordyn, Shashia!!! I'm soo glad that I found you!!! I've got loads to tell you!!"

Jordyn turned to face her, all smiles. "Lily!! Good!! We've been waiting for you."

"I'm so glad you're here. You'll never believe what happened to me."

"Same here!!" Shashia gushed, rather cutting her friend off in her excitement. "We met the nicest guys in Divination. They even invited us to come and share lunch with them. Come on!! You've simply got to meet them!!" Grabbing Lily's arm she tugged her down the length of the table. Jordyn followed quickly.

At the end of the table James and Remus, sat with their two friends. "I'm so glad you guys could make it! Who's you're friend?" James asked Jordyn as the girls halted.

"This is Lily Evans." Jordyn said. "Lily this is James Potter and Remus Lupin."

Lily smiled politely and then turned to tell her friends what she'd been meaning to say, when she got a good look at the boy sitting next to Remus. Her jaw clenched.

"Lil, what were you going to tell us about your morning?" Shashia asked as she sat down on Lupin's other side.

"Um." Lily said blankly, jerking her eyes away from the third boy. "Nothing. It's not important."

"Lily, don't get bent out of shape. Of course it's important!!" Jordyn protested, slightly annoyed. She hated when Lily guilt tripped them all by diminishing her own importance when she was upset with them.

"No…really, it's not imp—" Lily began but was cut off.

"No, please Lily, do share. What happened to you today?" Sirius asked looking at her with a challenging gaze.

"Sirius you know her?" James asked.

"Potions." Sirius said absently. He caulked his eyebrow at Lily as if to say, 'We're waiting.'

"Fine." Lily snapped, meeting Sirius glare for glare. "Let's start with him blowing up his cauldron and laughing about it!!" Lily said accusingly.

Remus and James nearly busted a gut laughing. "You did?? Really? What'd Slughorn do?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing." He wasn't laughing and he hadn't broken eye contact with Lily either.

Shashia and Jordyn looked from Sirius to Lily, neither of whom were laughing, and then at each other in confusion. Jordyn was alarmed to see Lily looking murderous. 'This is ludacris!! I can't believe she's angry about a potions accident.' She thought.

"Lil, if we blew up a cauldron we'd laugh about it…" Shashia began trying to cool her friends rage.

"It was spitting fire!! Someone could have been hurt!! He did it out of pure recklessness!!! But I don't suppose the class bully would really care would he??" she challenged.

"Class bully? What is she talking about, Sirius?" Remus asked, looking lost.

Sirius rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I ran into Snivellus on the way out. He walked into me."

"You rammed your shoulder into him!!!" Lily yelled furiously. "And his name is SEVERUS!!!"

Sirius didn't loose his calm collection. "Hey James, her name is Lily…." Sirius said to his friend.

"Yeah, so?" James asked, confused as to what this had to do with the shouting match going on.

"She's Snivelly's Lily!! The one he always talks about like she's a goddess. This is Snivellus' girlfriend!!!" The fires of laughter rekindled in his eyes.

"I am not!!!" Lily shouted in frustrated indignation. When Sirius' laugh burst from his eyes out of his mouth, she gathered her things and turned away. "I can't stay here." She muttered to Shashia and Jordyn. "Enjoy lunch. I'll catch up to you later."

As Lily retreated, Jordyn found that she was angry at James and Sirius' laughter. When they'd subsided a bit, she turned a fiery gaze on Sirius. "What was that about?"

"Denial!" Sirius said in an exaggerated tone, chuckling again.

"No, it's not!!! What the bloody hell is going on!!!!??" Jordyn yelled. Sirius stopped laughing. "Can't you see that she's telling the truth!?"

"Well…um…" Sirius seemed at a loss for what to say now that Jordyn had put him under a verbal barrage. "…Sniv—Severus, knew her. He kept saying 'It's me don't you remember.' Lily seemed to think he was crazy."

Shashia burst with indignation at this. "Do you think that if she was dating him she'd say she didn't know who he was??"

"I…erm…well…" Sirius shifted in his seat. His arrogant confidence was gone and Shashia and Jordyn were making him squirm. "I made a mistake alright." With that he attacked his lunch.

Shashia settled into a conversation about the wizarding world with Remus. She surprised herself with how much she knew. She enjoyed talking to him and they enjoyed many good laughs about common experiences or funny stories.

Jordyn bantered lightly with James about the most inconsequential things. She also made a point of trying to talk to the fourth boy in the group. He was a short, blonde, mousy looking boy named Peter Pettigrew. He didn't make for very good conversation, since he stuttered and had trouble focusing. She couldn't help but wonder how he came to hang out with Sirius and James who were the kind of confident, devious guys that every boy wished he could be.


	4. Changing the Statis Quo

A/N: So I'm hoping that the chapters will start getting longer soon. So sorry. I'm just getting what I've already written up and then I'll start with the new material….

Chapter 4: Changing the Statis Quo

Lily fled the Great Hall in blind frustration and when some of the haze of anger had cleared, she found herself out on the grounds. She thought back to what had happened before lunch as she wandered. To her surprise she found that the once hazy memories of spending time with Severus when they were younger, were clear and solid. The memories of a sleepover tht she had once been sure were real felt like nothing more than a dream. She couldn't have said why, but she suddenly felt horribly guilty about the way she'd spoken to Severus earlier and she set of to find him.

It didn't take long to locate the lanky, greasy-haired boy sitting off by himself. He was crouched under a tree. Every step she took towards him seemed to strenghten those memories and increase her guilt. Finally she stood in front of him. "Hi," she mumbled. He barely glanced up and then looked right back down. "Is this seat taken?" She asked motioning to the spot next to him.

"It's just a peace of grass and this is a free country." He said coldly.

Lily metally kicked herself as she sat down. That had been a really stupid question to ask. "Listen, Severus, I'm really sorry about the way I acted earlier. I don't know what came over me.I couldn't remember you. Maybe the fumes in the potions room had gotten to me. I don't know what it was, but I'm so sorry."

"Potion fumes?" He asked as though he very much didn't believe her. "Did Potter and his friends put you up to this?" Lily cringed. "That's right. I saw you eating lunch with them."

"They're not my friends. Some girlfriends of mine started hanging out with them. I didn't stay. Like I said, I'm not friends with them. You're my friend, Sev."

"Really?" He said, still in that cold emotionless tone. "Friends don't say things like that Lily. Friends don't pretend not to know each other when it's convenient."

"I said I was really sorry."

Despite his resolution not to, Severus softened. She was his best friend and he'd secretly been in love with her since they were ten years old. He couldn't refuse her apology. It was his fault for being so damn jealous. "Best friends always accept each other's apologies, so I accept yours." He smiled.

Lily smiled back at him and they settled into a light conversation. Mostly they reminisced about old times and Lily found that the more they talked about it the more memories she had of their time together. She began to find that she enjoyed his company more than she did that of James' friends. When the bell rang for classes to begin for the afternoon, Lily found that she was sad to leave him. "I have Herbology next." She said.

"Potions for me." Severus said with an excited smile. "It's my favorite, although if you ask me Professor Slughorn could stand to learn a few things himself."

Lily laughed, unconciously making Severus' heart jump. "Good luck with that. I'll see you around okay?"

Severus nodded. "Yeah, absolutely. Enjoy Herbology."

Lily groaned, and started off toward the green houses.

In greenhouse five, she found Shashia and Jordyn sitting on stools with James, Sirius, and Remus. The mousy looking boy was nowhere to be seen. Shashia sat between Remus and James. On James other side was Jordyn and next to her Sirius. The only empty seat was next to Sirius. "Bloody hell!!" She muttered under her breath. "They probably set it up this way.

Jordyn saw Lily enter the greenhouse and waved her over. Then when Lily was preoccupied looking where she was going, Jordyn nudged Shashia and smiled. Shashia smiled back and nodded. Their plan was falling together perfectly. As it became apparent that Lily was indeed going to be sitting next to him, Sirius groaned. His groan turned to a grunt as Jordyn elbowed him in the ribs. He turned to meet her stare and she gave him a warning look to remind him of the promise he'd made earlier.

As Lily sat down she made a point of pretending to ignore Sirius as she dug out her copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. She flipped through the book to the work page on the plants they'd be dealing with that day. She looked around for Professor Sprout or someone who would provide ample destraction.She thought dirty things at her friends for cornering her like this.

Sirius grunted softly as Jordyn elbowed him a second time. Then he cleared his throat and turned to Lily. All he could see was her back and the side of her face as she was turned away from him reading. "Um…Lily?" he adressed her cautiously, in the same manner one might approach a ticking bomb. The last thing he needed was extra attention from his teachers by starting a verbal showdown in the green house.

She didn't say anything but inclined her head to show she was listening.

"I'm sorry about what I did earlier and the things I said. I shouldn't have."

When Lily turned to face him there was blatant shock written all over her face. Still, though she said nothing.

Irritated, Sirius repeated himself. "I said sorry. Didn't you hear me?"

Lily gave him a look that said he was an idiot. "I'm not deaf. I heard you. I just didn't expect it. I was recovering from shock."

At that Sirius had no choice but to laugh. It really wasn't like him to apologize. Less than a day and she already knew him well enough to predict his reactions. It was uncanny, annoying even, and yet, incredibly endearing. 'No stop that train of thought right now. This is the last girl you could ever think of like that Black.' He chastised himself.

Lily managed to smile at him a little in return. As she did she felt some of the ice break between them.

Looking around James, Shashia and Jordyn smiled deviously at each other. But before either could say anything, Professor Sprout bustled into the greenhouse to start the lesson.


	5. One Down

Marauder Era

Ch. 5: One Down…

A/N: Thanks to those of you who've actually read this….I can think of two who are looking forward to this chapter. Thanks to ShadowC for your continued demands for updates and your help curing the writersblock that chronically plagues me. Thanks to HGHPlove4ever15 for your encouragement to continue….

The next morning dawned bright and clear. The fall chill was starting to creep into the castle but the three girls found themselves warm in their blankets. Lily was the first to wake as usual. "Hey guys, time to get up!" She called. Nothing happened. Lifting her wand off the sideboard of her nightstand she flicked it. A loud bang resounded through the fifth year girls dormitory. Jordyn sat bolt upright, eyes wide in surprise.

"What the….!" She exclaimed as she scanned around wildly for the source of the noise. Seeing Lily with her wand raised she moaned, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Bugger…" Lily muttered, as though she hadn't heard Jordyn. She was looking at the third bed in the room. Shashia rolled over and muttered sleepily but that was it. "Doesn't anything wake her up?"

"I don't know." Jordyn lamented. "But you could have tried a more conventional method first, or if you had to cause a small explosion you at least could have warned me first."

"Sorry about that." Lily said, a bit sheepishly.

Jordyn shrugged. "I'm over it. And I'm thought of something that might wake her up." Smiling she reached out and grabbed her own wand. "Accio Shashia's Blankets!" She whispered. The covers from Shashia's bed flew through the air and landed neatly on Jordyn's bed. Shashia groaned and curled into a tighter ball but didn't wake. "Well, damn." Jordyn said in frustration.

"Let me try something." Lily said. A memory had just come to her, one of the random ones that kept cropping up out of nowhere. "Levicorpus." She muttered.

Shashia squealed as she was wretched out of bed and suspended in mid-air by her ankle. She swung punches and thrashed around, as her mind fought to wake all the way up. Jordyn and Lily were overcome with giggles.

"Where did you learn that, Lil?" Jordyn asked, tears of mirth streaming down her face at the bewildered look on Shashia's face.

Lily had to think for a moment, but it came to her eventually. "Uh, Sev taught it to me…" she giggled.

"Remind me to thank dear Severus for you!" Shashia said in mock malice. "Now that you've succeed in waking me up, which I assume was the point from the get go, will you please put me down Lily?"

"Oh, yeah right." Lily started to raise her wand and then stopped. "I should warn you though I haven't learned the gentle way to do this yet."

"What do you m-…." Shashia cut off with a grunt as she plunged head first onto her bed. "Oh." She said simply. "That's what you meant."

Jordyn surpressed another fit of giggles at the sight of Shashia lying in mess of twisted limbs on her bed.

"Ah, shut up, Jordyn." Shashia snapped as she slowly climbed off the bed.

"Good morning, sunshine." Lily said pleasantly. "We're going to be late for breakfast." She pulled her nightgown over her head and began tugging on her uniform.

Shashia gave her back a sarcastically mocking smile, and then the redhead began to don her own uniform. Still chuckling to herself Jordyn did the same. She couldn't wait to tell James about this. It was just so hysterical.

Fifteen minutes later the three girls came down the dormitory stairs together. Jordyn and Lily were smiling and gently teasing a still grumbling Shashia. At about the same time that they entered the common room, James and his friends came bouncing down the stairs from the boys dormitory. "Good morning ladies!" James said happily. "How was your night?"

"Shashia didn't want to get up." Jordyn laughed. "Lily had to help her out of bed."

"Yeah, into mid air is not exactly 'out of bed' in the conventional sense." Shashia grumbled. She was quite sure that she was going to have a bruise where she'd slammed into the mattress.

At this Remus laughed. He had a somewhat deep laugh that didn't really match his speaking voice, but it had a pleasant sound to it. "Conventional is such a Muggle word, Shashia. This is Hogwarts. Nothing here is conventional."

Shashia smiled halfheartedly at him as they headed out of the common room. "Yes, but how would you like to be hoisted out of bed and hung in midair by your ankle?"

Remus grimaced. "Not at all."

"Didn't think so."

"How did you manage that, Lily??" Sirius said speaking for the first time.

"It wasn't hard. I just used a little trick I picked up in some of my individual reading." She said, carefully avoiding mentioning that it was Severus' trick.

"Feel like sharing the incantation. It might come in handy someday." Sirius said with smirk that could only mean that he was thinking of using it on it's creator.

"No, actually, I don't feel like sharing." Lily said pointedly. "It's against my moral code to contribute to teenage delinquency." She ducked ahead of him into the secret passage that provided Gryffindors with a short cut to the Great Hall.

Sirius paused before following and looked around as though looking for the person she was talking about. "Delinquency??" He asked with mock astonishment. "You can't mean me…"

"I can't think of who else I could possibly mean." Lily called back to him.

Behind Sirius, Remus rolled his eyes at Shashia. "Are they ever going to stop??" he mouthed at her. But they didn't. Lily and Sirius continued to banter lightly all the way to the Great Hall. And so it wasn't until they got there that they realized that James and Jordyn were no longer with their party.

As they followed Shashia and Remus down the out of the secret passage James grabbed Jordyn's elbow and towed her to an alcove in the wall. She stumbled along under his insistant tug but pulled her arm away roughly once he stopped pulling.

"What was that about??" She half-shouted. "I'm not a sack of flour you know."

"I know." James said calmly. "It's just that I wanted to talk to you away from your friends…and mine."

"And you could think of no better way than _dragging_ me???" Jordyn asked, her voice still several notches too loud.

"Shhh…Will you keep it down??" James hissed.

"Sorry." Jordyn said in a quieter tone. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

James seemed to grow suddenly awkward. "I….er…." He paused and took a deep breath. "I wanted to ask you to have dinner with me tonight." The words came out all in a rush as though he were trying to say them all in one breath.

Jordyn's brow furrowed in confusion. "James, we all eat dinner together anyway."

"I don't mean with me and everyone….I mean with just me." James clarified.

Jordyn smiled at the thought. "That's going to be hard to manage in the Great Hall." She pointed out.

"Listen…give me an answer…yes or no." James snapped.

"Yes, of course I'd like to have dinner with you." Jordyn said quickly. What she didn't say was that her heart actually leapt at the thought of time alone with him. "I just don't understand how…."  
James smiled as she accepted. He seemed to visibly relax. "I've got it all worked out. Don't worry about a thing. Just meet me in the Gryffindor common room at seven. Formal attire if you don't mind." With that he turned and headed to the Great Hall.

Jordyn scrambled to catch up, her head reeling.

For the rest of the day Jordyn was on the proverbial cloud nine. There was a new spring in her step and a new ferver to her focus during their lessons. Both Lily and Shashia noted it and speculated as to what could be the cause. Finally when the three of them were sitting in History of Magic listening to Professor Binns drone on, and Jordyn seemed to actually be listening to what Binns was saying while watching the time as well, Shashia couldn't stand it anymore.

"What has gotten into you??" She asked.

Jordyn looked startled. "Nothing."

"Yeah, right." Lily piped up.

"Listen, Jordy, we both know something good happened when you and James disappeared this morning because you're suddenly Miss Sunshine." Shashia said. "Now cough it up your I'll have Lily dose you with Veritaserum."

Jordyn grimaced. "Alright, alright. James asked me to have dinner with him. Just him."

"How can you have a private dinner at Hogwarts??" Shashia asked incredulously.

"I don't know. He just said to meet him in the common room and eight in formal dress attire and that he had it all worked out."

"Oh my god!!!" Shashia exclaimed. "You're going on a date!!!"

"Did he really mean like formal formal??" Lily asked.

"What other kind is there??" Jordyn asked elated.

Lily shrugged.

"Well, we'll have to help you with your clothes and hair and everything." Shashia gushed.

"Easy does it." Lily remarked as Jordyn, still smiling, pretended to duck.


	6. Dinner on the Lake

Marauder Era

Ch. 6: Dinner on the Lake

_A/N: Sorry about the delay in updating. I took a couple of days off school in order to show my horse at an event, and while I was gone most of my teachers decided to have tests and/or load on the assignments and they still haven't slowed down.._

Lily laughed as she lay on her stomach on her bed. "Now, now. If there's anything my Muggle sister taught me it's how to dress for a date!!" She flicked her wand. Jordyn's skirt stretched to her knees, and her shirt buttoned all the way up to her neck. "There see!!! Perfect!!!"

Shashia nearly doubled over in hysterical laughter. "It's hideous!!" she shrieked. "Does your sister really think that that's suitable attire??"

"Oh, yes!!" Lily laughed, nodding earnestly. "Petunia would find our school uniforms scandelously revealing!!"

"Muggles!!!" Jordyn sighed over the noise of Shashia's roaring laughter. She flicked her own wand and her uniform returned to normal.

She opened her wardrobe and fumbled about. At last she pulled out a blue cocktail dress. She put it on quickly. The sleeves swooped off her shoulders and the fabric clung to her waist where it flared out to nearly her knees. Another wand flick reaised the skirt hem several inches. "Better." She said. She left her black, silky hair down over her shoulders.

Shashia stopped laughing and examined her friend. "Brilliant!!" She exclaimed. "He's not going to be able to resist you."

Jordyn smiled. "That's the idea."

"Have fun." Lily said with a smile. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. "Shashia, if we want to eat, we'd better get down to the Great Hall."

"Right." Shashia said climbing off her bed and tugging her robes straight.

As the other two headed down to dinner, Jordyn slipped down to the Gryffindor common room. Only Remus was there….there was no sign of James.

"Hey, Remus have you seen James??" Jordyn asked.

He turned to look at her and did a double take. "Oh, hey Jordyn. Wow, you look fabulous." He swallowed. "James asked me to ask you to meet him at the lake."

"Thanks." Jordyn said, already halfway to the portrait hole.

She slipped quietly through the castle that was mostly deserted now that everyone was at dinner. She ducked out the great, oak doors and hurried down to the lake shore. She noticed the site immediately because of all the light. Under a beech tree, James was sitting at a small round table which was draped in a red silk table cloth and set with two place settings of fine China. A few candles flickered above the table in imitation of those in the Great Hall.

James himself was wearing a black suit and a white satin shirt. He'd casualized it by leaving the jacket open and his top two shirt buttons undone. His jet black hair was tossled as always. He gave Jordyn his most devilish smile and pulled her chair out for her. "You look beautiful," he whispered in a semi-reverent voice.

"Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself." Jordyn looked around. "James, this is incredible. How did you manage it??"

He shrugged. "A little transfiguration here and there and wal-la here you go."

"But you can't transfigure food." Jordyn pointed out, then metally kicked herself. 'I'm starting to sound like Lily in nerd mode.' She thought.

"Aww…" James leaned forward conspiratorially. "I talked a couple of house elves form the kitchens into adding our little tabl eto the channels that get food to the Great Hall. Are you hungry?" Jordyn nodded. "Good. Watch!" He tapped his fork to his goblet in a decent imitation of Dumbledore. Suddenly food appeared on the serving plates.

Jordyn gasped as the food appeared even though she'd seen it most meals for the past six years. James flicked his wand and the caps popped off the top of two butterbeers.

"Sorry." He said as he handed one to her.

"What do you have to be sorry for??" Jordyn asked in breathless amazement.

"I'm sorry that I don't have a more elegant drink to offer you. The school kitchen isn't allowed to stock anything stronger than this and it doesn't come in a fancier bottle." James said earnestly looking her in the eye.

Jordyn took a sip of her butterbeer. "You," She began emphatically, gesturing at the table, " have nothing you be sorry for."

James shrugged as if he didn't believe her.

"James, this is incredible. That you'd even think to plan like this is incredible. I've never thought this far in advance about a date."

"It's the guys job to plan the details of the date." James said. "Now what can I get you."

Jordyn laughed as James served her in a chivalrous manner. When her plate was loaded he loaded his own. "It's too bad about the lack of help. Sirius begged out of serving for us when I insisted that he had to wear a tuxedo." James chuckled as they both dug into their food.

After they'd eaten in silence for a few minutes James looked up a Jordyn as though he were about to ask her something then ducked back to his plate. "What?" Jordyn asked.

"What what?" James asked in return, smiling.  
"You looked like you wanted to ask me something just now. What was it?"

"It doesn't matter. Just a curiousity, but you know what they say: 'Curiousity killed the cat.'" James' devilishly handsome smile never faltered.

Jordyn couldn't help but return his smile. "Ah yes, but satisfaction brought him back."

James sighed. "You win." He took another bite of chicken and swallowed carefully. "Alright, here it is. What did Lily do to Shashia this morning?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Well experience is probably the best way to learn. Go stand over there." Jordyn directed.

Looking confused James did as she asked. "Here?" He asked when he was a safe distance from the table.

"That will do." Jordyn said, pulling out her wand. "Are you sure you want me to do this?"

"Do it already!" James said forcefully.

"Alright!" Jordyn said in response. "Levicorpus!"

James yelped as he was wrenched into the air by his right foot without any warning. He fought to keep his shirt and jacket in place, but in vain. Gravity won out and they flopped down, exposing his well muscled chest.

"Shall I put you down?" Jordyn asked, though she was quite enjoying the sight.

"Yes, please." James said. "I can see why Shashia was pissed."

Jordyn released the spell expecting him to float gently to the ground. True, Shashia hadn't that morning, but she fully expected that Lily had alterred it. Therefore she was shocked when James dropped to the earth like a stone. He lay there in a crumped mass, not moving. "JAMES!!" She yelled. "Are you okay?!" He didn't respond and she ran the short distance to his side. Kneeing and dropping her wand, she endeavoured to roll him over. "James are you okay? Can you hear me?" She was started to panic when he still hadn't responded. Finally she managed to roll him over.

James waited until Jordyn had succeeded in rolling him onto his back and then he came alive. He reached up and grabbed her wrists. She squealed in shock as his hands closed about her and his eyes burst open. "Got ya!" He said triumphantly as he pulled her closer. Without waiting to see what she'd do he kissed her.

Jordyn was taken by surprise at first when James kissed her. But eventually the shocked pounding that her heart had taken on when he'd scared her relaxed into a pleasurable banging on the inside of her chest. She pulled her wrists loose of his grasp and wound them behind his head.

His hands free James held her closer to him and in doing so managed to kiss her more soundly. Eventually though his head began to spin from lack of oxygen and he could only imagine that she must be feeling the same thing. Slowly he pulled back and looked at her.

Jordyn was incredibly dizzy but on cloud nine at the same time. It appeared that James had lungs of iron. "Wow," she gasped as fissions of electricity continued to fizzle through her.

"Yeah, wow." James panted.

"Not really how I pictured our first kiss though." Jordyn laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I always imagined something more romantic than me hexing you then thinking I'd hurt you. Followed by you scaring the begeebers out of me and then kissing me before I could recover from the shock." Jordyn said with a wry smile on her face. "And I wouldn't have picked lying on top of you on the Hogwarts lawn as a prime location either."

James cocked an eyebrow. "You have to admit though, the suspense does wonders for your heart rate." His crooked smile took over his face again.

"I'm amazed my heart hasn't overloaded yet." Jordyn felt like her smile was going to break her face in two.

James chuckled and stood up. As Jordyn sat up, he reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Shall we finish our dinner??"

They worked there way through the dregs of dinner and desert easily. They talked about people they had known, places they'd seen, and they're families. They laughed together often. James as it turned out was from a pureblood family that lived in a half Wizard, half-Muggle community called Godric's Hollow. Unlike most of the purebloods she'd met though, he didn't seem to mind the fact that she was only half-blood. He found stories of her Muggle father's eccentricities rather hilarious and Jordyn enjoyed telling them. It was a light and comfortable atmosphere as they finished. The table disappeared along with the plates, leaving them alone on the moonlit shores of the Lake.

"Care to go for a walk with me?" James asked, brightly. He was enjoying her company far to much to let her go just yet. In fact, he wasn't really sure that he ever wanted this night to end.

Jordyn nodded in agreement. She too wished that they could stay in that particular space of time for all eternity. They set off along the lakeshore at a leisurely stroll. They had gone hardly any distance at all, when James reached down and took Jordyn's hand. Lacing his fingers through hers nonchalantly, he continued to stroll along looking straight ahead. They walked mostly in silence except to point things that they saw out to each other. About halfway around the lake, James came to a stop and turned to face Jordyn. He looked like he was about to say something and then he closed his mouth and turned away. They continued walking in silence. After a short while James flicked his wand off to the side so that Jordyn couldn't see it. Then he raised their joined hands to point ahead of them, into the mist.

"James wh---…." Jordyn started.

"Shhh…." He cut her off. "Just watch."

Slowly, under Jordyn's mesmorized gaze the mist began to twist and writh to form words. The words 'Jordyn Cromwell, will you be my girl?' finally materialized, framed against the night sky.

"Seriously?" Jordyn breathed.

"Seriously." James said quietly. He waited nervously for her response.

"Yes." Jordyn said, answering the question he'd written in the sky for her. "Yes, yes, yes."

Ecstatic with happiness, James spun her around and kissed her breathless again. "I'm going to look forward to doing that again and again and again." He laughed, giddy with joy. To prove his point he kissed her again.

Jordyn laughed when he released her. "I was so hoping you'd ask."

"I was so afraid you'd say no." James confided in her as they kept walking.

"Why?" Jordyn asked, shocked.

"Because you're friend Lily doesn't like me and my friends very much. Don't you girls have some policy on that?"

"Of course we do!!" Jordyn said, but then she became serious. "I think Lily will get over it. That's the cool thing about Lil, she may have her personal prejudices but she'll put them all aside if it makes her friends happy."

"Sounds like a really good friend to have."

"She is and so is Shia. They're the best."

"But I can tell you from Sirius' perspective, that she can also be one hell of an enemy." James said.

"For whatever reason, Severus Snape is Lily's friend. She doesn't like Sirius in his defense." Jordyn explained. "I'm not saying it's right, but that's how Lily sees it."

"Well, we're good on my end. Peter, Remus, and Sirius all like you." James said as they approached the castle.

Jordyn smiled happily at him as they strode side by side into the entry hall.


	7. You Gain Some

1**Marauder Era**

Ch.7: You Gain Some...

**A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated on this one. I had terrible writer's block and about the time I cured it Microsoft word went down on my computer and the file didn't want to transfer to WordPerfect correctly. Thank you to all that have stuck with this. I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations. Thanks to ShadowC for being my beta...again. Enjoy.**

Jordyn felt like dancing as she opened the door to her dormitory. As she expected Shashia and Lily were waiting for her. Shashia was pacing up and down the isle in the middle of the room. Lily, however, was as calm and collected as always. She hadmanaged to absorb herself in a book to the point that she didn't look up when the door opened. Shashia, on the other hand whirled around to face Jordyn and started blabbering immediately.

"What happened? How did it go?" She stammered. "Tell us everything." The excited young witch demanded.

"Shashia, will you let her get in the door and sit down?" Lily asked giving Jordyn the once-over. "She looks like she's had a long night." Lily commented, noting that her friend's dress was rumpled and grassy in places.

Jordyn stolled over to her four poster bed and collapsed onto the mattress. "It was a long night."

"Long how?" Shashia pressed, unable to restrain herself.

A huge smile broke out on Jordyn's face and she sat up to face her friends. "James and I are dating."

"No, seriously. It's official! He asked me to be his girl!!" Jordyn was practically squealing with excitement by the time she finished.

"NO WAY!!!" Shashia screamed. "He did?"

Jordyn nodded enthusiastically.

"Give me all the details!" Shashia begged.

As Jordyn settled onto her bed and Shashia leapt onto hers to listen, Lily barely resisted the urge to call out 'Pillow Talk'! Instead, she calmly set her book aside and began to listen. Jordyn enthusiastically related every detail of her night out with James. Well, almost every detail. She omitted the fact that she'd told James how Lily had know the Levicorpus spell. Somehow, though it had seemed so innocent at the time, she didn't think lily would be happy if she thought that James knew the spell's creator. When she finished she sat back with a contented sigh.

"Bloody hell!" Shashia exclaimed.

Lily's eyes widened involuntarily at her friend's foul mouth.

"Oh, Lil get over it!!" Shashia said.

"What?!" Lily said innocently. Then she turned to Jordyn. "Congratulations! I'm really happy for you."

"Lil, I know you don't like him, but will you give him a chance?" Jordyn asked.

"I never said I didn't like him. I just think that he and that Black boy have a tendency to cause trouble." Lily defended flatly. "But yes, I'll try to be nice for your sake. I promise."

"Thanks, Lil. I knew you would." Jordyn smiled happily at her friends. "You guys are the best." Suddenly she squealed involuntarily and squeezed her pillow. "I'm so excited. I really, really like him."

"That's the best place to start." Shashia said.

Lily broke up the slumber party atmosphere with a yawn. "I think I'm going to turn in. I suggest you two do the same. We do have classes tomorrow."

Lily's yawn made Jordyn and Shashia yawn too. "I'm pretty bushed." Jordyn said, yawning again. "Tonight was kind of an emotional roller coaster."

"I can imagine." Shashia said as they all began to get ready for bed.

The next morning, Lily was up and out before Shashia and Jordyn were all the way awake. They got ready in sleepy silence and then headed downstairs to the common room. There they found Lily, fully dressed, sitting in an armchair with a book.

"We should have known." Jordyn said rolling her eyes.

Shashia, still half-asleep, grumbled her assent.

Just moments after they'd joined Lily in the common room the door to the boys' dormitories banged open. James came bounding down the stairs followed, as usual, by Remus, Sirius, and Peter. When he saw Jordyn standing in the common room a broad smile split his features. He came down off the stairs and came directly to her. He kissed her full on the mouth and then whispered, "Good morning, beautiful."

Despite herself, Jordyn blushed. "Good morning, James." She managed to choke out.

He smiled at her. "How does breakfast sound?" He asked.

"Wonderful." Jordyn said, returning his smile.

With that they all left the common room, following James and Jordyn. Peter was jabbering about something to Remus and Shashia as they walked directly behind the new couple. Sirius walked on Remus' other side, shaking his head every now and then at something Peter said. Lily strolled along behind them, not really wanting to be part of the group. After a while Sirius dropped back to walk next to her.

"It's probably going to kill you, but you'll die trying anyway. Won't you, Evans?"Sirius whispered so that only Lily can hear.

"Dare I ask what I'm supposed to be trying, Black?" Lily snapped.

"You're going to be trying to get along with us. It'll kill you to pretend we're all friends, but you love Jordyn too much to do anything less than try your heart out. Literally." He chuckled at his own joke.

Lily gave him her most withering glare. "Keep out of it, Black. Matters of the heart and of true friendship are way over you head. I wouldn't want you to drown." She retorted.

Sirius raised his eyebrows in a mocking gesture of surprise, as if he was saying 'I didn't think you were capable of that much venom?' Inwardly though, he admired the fine details of her face. His eyes traced over the her cheeks and lips as they delicately tried to conceal her locked jaw. He snapped back to himself just short of admitting that she was pretty. 'Snap out of it, Black!' He chastised himself. 'You hate her and she hates you, remember?' Lily noted the strange look in Sirius' eyes and frowned. She sped up to get away from him as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast. When they got to the table she sat as far from him as humanly possible.

As the young brunette with blue eyes walked into the entrance hall of her new school called Hogwarts she took a swift look around. She liked this place, it was so much larger than her old one in Ireland. She was originally from Britain, but 7 years earlier her mother had gotten a job on Ireland's ministry of magic. She was an amazing witch and Zara had inherited her talents but her fathers easily distracted nature. She could perform any spell and pass any test but there always seemed to be better things to do.

Last month Zara had decided that she wanted to go back to Britain, Ireland had become boring and the wizarding school she had attended was painfully small and uninteresting. So she moved in with her grandparents both retired from Britains ministry and living the remainder of their wizarding lives running a broom shop in diagon alley.

She looked around again wondering where to go, the letter of acceptance to her transfer request had told her to speak to Professor McGonagall, the vice headmistress about her schedule and something called sorting.

Suddenly she caught sight of a very prim looking woman walking towards her with a purposeful step. Zara didn't think she had ever seen such a tight bun or pursed lips.

"Good morning," the woman said, "you must be Zara Josney"

"Yep, that's me," Zara replied

"Very well, I am Professor McGonagall, and you will follow me into the great hall to be sorted, then you can join your house and start classes."

"My house?" Zara asked in confusion.

"Indeed, I suppose your previous school was too small to worry about such a thing, but here there are too many students to keep each year in the same class so we separate each year into 4 houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin are the four houses. You will be joining the fifth years, but we still need to establish what house you will join. Then you can get your uniform, and put your things in the proper dormitory."

"Right, how exactly do you sort people?"

"You sit on a stool in the Great Hall and the sorting hat is placed on your head, it makes the decision," McGonagall began walking briskly towards two open oak doors on the other side of the entrance hall, "unfortunately," she continued, "because you are joining us late you will be sorted alone in front of the other students as per tradition."

"Not a problem." Zara didn't really have an issue with crowds, it wasn't as if she craved attention, more so that when it was on her she truly didn't give a damn.

As they passed through the great oak doors Zara saw that McGonagall wasn't exaggerating when she told of the schools numbers. At her old school there was 100 or 150 students at the most _total_, but here there was about 150 students _per house_! Zara almost gasped. They walked down the middle of the hall with two of the four tables on either side. To the left was a table with a badger banner hanging of it then further left was the snake banner table. The right was exactly the same except that it was a raven and then a lion on the banners.

They finally made it to the front of the room and all eyes turned upon one man. This man happened to be the only person in the room that Zara recognized. Albus Dumbledore was an old friend of her grandparents. He was wearing that relentlessly warm smile with sparkling eyes looking over his half moon glasses.

"Welcome," he said only to her then looked out onto the sea of faces to address the room, "Hogwarts students, I know this will seem extremely out of the ordinary but I would like all of you to welcome a fifth year transfer student!"

Toneless hellos echoed through the hall.

"This is a rarity but she has come all the way from a small magic school in Ireland in hopes of joining our student body and I hope she will be accepted warmly!"

"She is already accepted in my book!" A white haired sickly looking boy said from the snake table earning a disapproving look from McGonagall and a stern glance from Dumbledore. A rotund man sitting a little farther down the staff table suppressed a smile. Zara already knew she wouldn't like that kid. Or that teacher either probably.

"Without further ado bring in the sorting hat and let us complete the initiation!" Dumbledore announced.

McGonagall left for a side chamber for a moment but then returned with a stool and a raggedly looking hat. She set the stool in front of Zara and gave her no more than a look to let her know to sit down. When Zara sat she was curious as to what the hat might do. She knew better than to underestimate magical items but couldn't come up with a single guess as to what might happen.

As the hat was set upon her head she suddenly gasped, a voice had spoken to her

"Hmm... a fresh mind in the middle of the year huh? A little unorthodox but a challenge I enjoy." It seemed as if the hat had spoken within her head. "Yes I am talking to you," the hat guessed correctly, "and before I decide where to put you I will explain the houses to you. First there is Gryffindor the house of the brave, then there is Ravenclaw the house of the sharp minded, next comes those of Slytherin who are witty and sharp, but with a tendency for darkness and trouble. Lastly there is Hufflepuff the house for students who are loyal and friendly. This school was founded by those very four people the houses were named after and they left it to educate young minds much like your own. And so let your education begin, I can see you know are smart, but not driven to schoolwork as much as a Ravenclaw, yet you are to far beyond average to belong in Hufflepuff, and I can see that Slytherin is not the right house for you. So all that remains is Gryffindor…….yes that is the right house, I can tell." It occurred to Zara that Gryffindor was what she had been praying for the whole time though she knew next to nothing about it. Then the hat announced to the entire hall with one booming word. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers rang out from the lion table, the students with the gold and maroon uniforms smiling in welcome. The smile was infectious and Zara couldn't help but smile as well as McGonagall ushered her of the stool and directed her to join her new classmates.

Zara sat down in an empty chair by four boys and three girls. The boys were all handsome, the one with messy short black hair most apparently dating the beautiful girl with the glossy raven hair and silver eyes. Next to them was a male with shoulder length black hair that wore a bored expression while observing her for a moment the turning to the girl across from him who had red hair and brilliant green eyes. Next to them was a male with brown hair who looked very tired next to a small mousy boy with sandy hair and a nervous expression, he was the only non-handsome one. Across from them was the remaining girl with dyed black hair and red tips wearing a grin.

Zara smile tentatively at them, not sure if they were willing to open there group to her. She heard McGonagall behind her and turned to receive a map and schedule along with a small smile from the tight lipped woman.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, I am the head of this house so if you have any questions your fellow students can't answer come to me." Professor McGonagall said, bustling over to Zara's side. " However Lily Evans and Remus Lupin are good people to ask questions of." She said pointing out the red haired girl and the tired looking boy.

"Aw, c'mon Professor, are you saying that we aren't a help?" the bored boy with the long black hair faked offence.

"Yes Sirius that is exactly what I am saying." McGonagall said with a tolerant look of good nature. "Enjoy your first day Ms. Josney. Your things have been taken to the dormitory." With that she walked away leaving Zara to turn back to the students.

"Hi!" the girl with the grin said, "I am Shashia Fletcher, and this is Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, James Potter, Jordyn Cromwell, and Lily Evans." She pointed out each member individually. "Welcome to the best house at Hogwarts."

At that Zara smiled "Hi, I am Zara Josney, and thanks."

Zara spent most of the day tagging along with the group she'd met that morning. They showed her where all her classes where and how to avoid traffic. They also told her how to avoid angering all of their different teachers. It didn't take Zara's sharp mind long to figure out the group dynamics. James and Jordyn were obviously a new couple since they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Sirius, the boy with the dark hair, didn't seem to care for Lily very much, though Zara found her a great help. Remus was the voice of reason amongst the boys and Zara couldn't help but laugh at his jokes, even if some of them were kind of lame.

Later that night, all the Gryffindors had returned to the common room after dinner. Remus in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace, with his Transfiguration homework spread out on the table next to him. In the other chair opposite the fire, Lily was nestled in with a book. Of course, she'd finished all of her homework. James was snuggling his new girlfriend on the window sill. At the smallest table Sirius and Peter were engrossed in a game of wizard's chess.

"Sirius, that move wasn't legal!!" Peter whined as Sirius' knight moved in for the checkmate.

"Read the rule book, Peter." Sirius said. "It's perfectly legal."

"You have to have cheated." Peter moaned.

"Oh, get over it Wormtail." Sirius snapped. "Rematch?"

"Sure." Peter said, resetting his side of the board.

Remus was just barely paying attention to what was going on, until the door at the top of the girl's staircase banged shut. He looked up. Just as he did so, the newest member of Gryffindor came bounding down the stairs. Zara's hair was loose and beautiful and her new uniform fit in all the right places. He couldn't tear his eyes from her. He wasn't sure why, but ever since she'd been sorted he'd been obsessed with her. He pretended to focus on his work, but he secretly watched her every move.

"Lily?" Zara asked shyly. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm a bit stuck on my Transfiguration homework. I haven't studied it much before."

Lily looked up with a sympathetic smile. "I already finished mine and it's upstairs. But I think Remus is still working on his. I bet he'd be willing to help. Right, Remus?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Remus asked looking up as though he'd been absorbed in his work.

"Zara needs help with her Transfiguration homework. Mine's upstairs already, but you'd be willing to help her, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I'll help." Remus said, offering Zara a smile. "Here." He flicked his wand over a pillow and it transfigured into a cushy armchair. "Pull up a seat."

Zara's eyes widened and she smiled at him. "Nice work." She praised.

Remus' heart rate leapt. "Thanks. Professor McGonagall insists that we work really hard in class. Fortunately I enjoy Transfiguration, so I study it outside of class when I can."

"Really?" Zara asked, sitting down. "Do you get a lot of time for private study here?"

"It depends. I get a fair amount, because I don't play Quidditch or anything like that. Hogwarts has an amazing library." Remus said. "I spend time there reading when James and Sirius are busy."

"Well, I like Charms and Potions, but my old school didn't have a very good Transfiguration program. I didn't learn much of it. Not the way you guys learn it anyway. I think I'm kind of behind." She whispered it almost as though it were a secret.

Remus leaned in closer to her and whispered. "Well, I can help you with that."

Zara laughed. "I'd appreciate that a lot."

"Where do you want to start?" Remus asked.

"Can you help me get through this essay?" Zara asked.

"Sure. Do you have the text book?"

Zara nodded. "Right here." She placed the heavy book on the table. "I don't know what I'm looking for. We're supposed to write on the difference between using birds and rodents when attempting to transfigure a water goblet. I can do it both ways, but I don't know the difference." Zara explained, feeling stupid. "I feel pretty dumb."

"You're not." Remus assured her quickly. "It's a really subtle difference. Loads of people miss it."

"Really?" Zara said, heaving a sigh of relief. "You're not just lying to make me feel better about myself?"

"NO!" Remus exclaimed. "Besides, they wouldn't have let you transfer here in the middle of the year if you were stupid. You just had a more practical education up until now.

Zara smiled. "You're really sweet."

Remus turned away so that she wouldn't see him blush.

From the top of the girl's staircase, Shashia watched Remus flirt with Zara. Burning jealousy stole over he as she watched him return her small smiles and reach over her to point out some small detail on a textbook page. Despite Shashia's best efforts, Remus had never shown that sort of affection for her. He was clearly smitten with this new girl from Ireland, who'd been at their school less than twenty-four hours. She clenched her fists to keep herself form hexing the brunette into the next century. "It's not fair!" she muttered to herself. "It's not bloody fair." With that she turned in a flourish of robes and disappeared into the fifth year girl's dormitory.

**A/N: I like to acknowledge my friend Spazzy for her creation of Zara's character. It was what got me out of the sticky spot I'd been in. She also wrote Zara's sorting scene to get me up and running again. So Spaz, if you're out there...YOU ROCK!!! **


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